Sorry to harsh your morning coffee buzz or afternoon beer smoothie, but it sounds like someone lost their dog in the river yesterday. And we almost lost ours. The river is high right now due to a release from Lake Crowley, so the easy access to many of the east side crags is not so easy in many places. The Banana Belt, for example, was completely cut off with about a foot of fast-moving water over the two crossings.

Our crew was headed for Pink Wall/Big Tower area. Mister E had constructed a doggie-friendly crossing a few weeks ago using some boards. No, however, part of the bridge was under a small amount of water. Way lay down some rocks; The Maid ran off and came back like Conan the Barbarian with a giant railroad tie. My wife, who's spooked by river crossings, got across fine, so we figured it was time to get the hound over. We should have known better. Django can be a little spazzy at times when he goes for something spooky or technical. We often spot him on bouldery approaches. Well, ol' Dj took the move across the damp section too quickly, a paw slipped, and to our horror, off we went into the current. For an instant, he went totally under, but quickly resurfaced, paddling for all he was worth. I ran downstream as Dj went over a small falls. I scanned frantically for places to catch him. Incredibly, DJ stuck the landing over the falls and held on in some rocks. I scrambled down and was able to grab him by the scruff of the neck and help him up and out. He rolled in the dry leaves as he always does after getting wet, and the crisis was over.

We were all pretty shaken, but Django was fine. At another possible crossing to a different crag up stream, we saw folks with dogs walking the plank. A couple of the hounds were fine, but a couple were deeply spooked, and it looked like on the that group decided to stay back with the dogs. Smart move. We decided against that crossing, too, and stuck to the west side for the rest of the day.

Mister E and The Maid ran into people later in the day who were looking in fruitlessly for a dog that had gone in. Looks like that hound didn't make it. We were lucky. I guess the moral of the story is belay the pooch if there's any risk like this. A good doggie harness and a short length of rope would easily do the trick. Or don't do the crossings. It was a beautiful day in the Gorge, but for one dog and his people, it ended darkly.

The "other" dog apparently went in somewhere above the Social Platform, where the water is running quite a bit faster than in the Lower.
We were hoping that the dog was maybe scared and on the other side, but after much searching there was no sign. Our fear is that the dog got pinned under a rock in the turbulence, since there was no sign of the poor creature...even at the water grate before the power plant :(

So glad Django stuck the boulder in the drop - what a champ!

The crossing to Warning Signs spooked a dog so bad, his owner almost lost his pack in the river scrambling to retrieve his pet on the bridge.

It's easy to underestimate the danger. None of the crossings anywhere in the Gorge are dog friendly right now. It's tempting to try to get across to get to the shady side... but best to stick to the west side right now if you bring a dog - unless it is small enough to carry or you have a harness and rope to belay your pooch.

I'll be dragging a plank down to raise the Pink Face crossing above the running water sometime this week. The big tree crossing below Big Tower is still easy to get across if you have people without pets.

sorry to see this about the doggy, not getting into the age-old debate, except to say that it seems like dogs are essential gear that some climbers can't climb without. Issued with the leader cards at the climbing gym

So people that bought this dog to the ORG asked for it to get washed into a river and drowned? Hopefully your smarter in person than your online persona is. Because that statement is just dumb. It makes you look like an idiot.

How about the next time a climber dies we just say "You get what you ask for?" Think about it for a minute or two then STFU.

I feel really sorry for the people whose doggie died down there. It must have been horrifying!

:-(

Back when we used to go to the Gorge (WAY before it was crazy crowded) we'd take our Golden retriever, yellow lab cross and one day LADWP flooded the place - with no warning (WAY before the river always ran through it) and we raced to get everything out of the river bed; 4 people's gear, 4 mountain bikes and Bianca. I clipped her into my bike while Blanchard and Marlowe kept climbing the route they were on. John and I barely made it out before the flood came. . . and the water was well over 5 feet deep. Once it started to subside, I let Bink go fwimmy and she was lovin' it, but it would have been HIDDIE if she'd'a been swept away when the flood started.

Not sure if this was the OP and dog or a different group. But I was climbing at the Pink Wall yesterday and I saw an owner try to get their dog across that bridge and the dog went it. It went down 3 rapids. A fisherman jumped in to try and help and all most took the ride also. The guy got to the side before going over the biggest rapid and luckily the dog got on to a rock. The female owner with the help of the fisherman got the dog out safely. I thought I was going to watch a dog and a person die. It was messed up...

But, it did not stop that group, they then carried all three of their dogs across... I am glad everyone was okay, but are a few 5.7 pitches worth killing your dog over? The day before that we opted not to climb there because we had two dogs with us... I don't regret missing out on a few pitches to keep the dogs safe....